Elon Musk's attorneys stated in a court filing on Wednesday that he would withdraw his $97.4 billion bid for OpenAI's non-profit division if the organization abandons its intention to shift to a for-profit model.
According to the filing, "If (the) OpenAI board is willing to maintain the charity's mission and agree to remove the 'for sale' designation from its assets by pausing the conversion, Musk will retract the bid." Conversely, if this condition is not met, the filing stipulates that "the charity should be compensated based on market value." Musk's bid is described as a "serious offer" aimed at advancing the charity's mission.
Reuters' attempts to reach OpenAI and Musk for comments during non-business hours were unsuccessful.
Established in 2015 by Sam Altman and Musk as a charitable organization, OpenAI has witnessed Musk's departure due to disagreements with Altman regarding the company's direction. Altman subsequently assumed the CEO role and initiated a for-profit section within OpenAI to attract investments from entities like Microsoft.
Altman is now leading efforts to transform the core business into a for-profit entity independent of its non-profit board. Despite this shift, the non-profit will remain operational and retain a minority stake in the for-profit entity, a move that led Musk to file a lawsuit to halt the transition.
Earlier this week, a group led by Musk made another attempt to block the transition.
Altman clarified to Reuters on Tuesday that the non-profit arm is not up for sale, emphasizing that OpenAI's assets should not be exploited for personal gain.